It is "bullshit" isn't it, as the Epic has so much more dynamic range, but the test being carried out under overcast weather, this isn't obvious.

On the other hand, why does Red feels it needs to comment on this, if it is so obvious?

Very funny. And what a superb camera the GH2 has become thanks to Vitaliy and friends.

Hi ,is a video in vimeo RED Epic verus Panasonic GH2
vimeo.com/30751603

Super report there. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Guys,
I know you want footage. I know. I'll see about screengrabs but I can't actually put the footage online.

And yeah, I'm still convinced of the gh2's performance. We're ditching other cams and shooting a bit part of the doc on 2 gh2s now...

Did you watch your footage in editing yet? What do you think now, still convinced of gh2 performance?

Extended Tele, it's "windowing" a central area of the chip 1920 by 1080 px in size, so it's not downsampling any more, but giving you more telephoto effect because of cropping – still much better than a digital zoom in other cameras.

@bwhitz

Down-sampling from an over-sampled image gives a HUGE improvement in aliasing, perceived color-resolution, moire, and many other forms of digital artifact. Based on my experience over-sampling/down-sampling in computer animation, this is the single biggest reason for the superior image performance of the GH2 over other video DSLRs. Panasonic chose to implement good-quality, real-time down-sampling (in custom VLSI hardware I presume) rather than skipping pixels.

Another nice by-product of this choice is the high-quality of 720p on the GH2. Because it's down-sampled from the same full-res sensor data as a 1080p image, the 720p image still contains (in a way) all the same information that the 1080p does - it's just been 'averaged' into a smaller number of pixels. When I first saw a 720p stream from the GH2 I was pleasantly surprised - at first glance it looked like 1080, but shot with a slightly softer lens.

As @JDN points out, the advantage is immediately obvious when you use ETC mode, which turns off the down-sampling. Suddenly you;ve got a much harsher, crudely digital image, especially in 720p.

@Bwhitz -- good comment. Makes a lot of sense to me. Certainly noticeable when you go from regular to crop mode in the gh2. For me, what is most pleasing is eliminating anything visual that says "video" -- I feel I immediately disconnect a tiny bit with what I'm watching because I realize I'm watching it through a lens. When you're shooting 1:1 on crop, a pixel is either one colour or another -- no ifs ands or buts, so you get excessive noise and can get aliasing around edges as it jumps back and forth between being the object and the background colour. But with down processing a bunch of pixels (especially at high bit rate) you can keep each pixel a constant colour I suspect.

@Brain202020 -- yeah, no doubt reds are great. Shot an experimental jet ski at 120fps once and loved it! The discussion is broadening out, but I have indeed seem some things I liked on the AF100 but generally it is with the voightlander .95 or other lenses -- the panasonic lenses are indeed overly sharp and that's why I always have a black frost 1/8, and often 1/2, in (unless I'm doing a glidecam shot where the fast movement with 24 p cadence compensates/distracts from sharpness).

Probably what I'm responding to positively w/gh2 is how easy it is get a slightly drained look while holding skin tones (maybe because it is a bit red to begin with?) -- it has some of the characteristics of a bleach bypass without going that far, which is perfect for me as I'm trying to add a film/narrative feel to doc work without going so far that it starts to feel distracting and overly processed (as an example, I thought the bypass on cave of forgotten dreams pushed things a little to far into unreality). But now I'm really getting off topic.

Anyway, glad you all enjoyed the post. I'll try to post those clips or at least screen grabs in the next few days. Incidentally, if anyone has a favourite fcp workflow for avchd please message me. I've been working with avids for years but haven't touched FCP in many years and wanting to make sure our assistant editor doesn't go astray...

@bwhitz
As for the AF100 looking video, it's all in the settings, lenses, and lighting my friend. Tweak those just right and it can look pretty damn amazing, and in my opinion more film like than most cameras. Those flat cine gamma curves are unlike anything else out there.

@JDN Thanks. Sounds very encouraging.

GH series is the only mirrorless model taken seriously. Something special about GH itself and the hacks. We know the magical formula by now. Smooth highlight roll-off & fine noise reproduction & good details. High bitrate solved the noise issue. Looking forward to trying out @cbrandin's upcoming custom film mode. GH2 keeps getting better.

@JDN Very interesting write up. It's amazing how you used all of these cams together and got this type of impression.

It's funny but when these types of questions were asked in the past in other forums (this camera vs that) they were always shot down with sarcastic remarks like "it's stupid to compare a consumer cam vs a pro cam" etc. I would agree with that statement if it were just about functionality and what each cam has to offer (tweakability and accessories etc.). But my bottom line was always image quality. You basically answered a lot of what many of us wanted to know....firsthand and without the snark remarks.

Don't get me wrong....I understand the difference between a consumer camera's limits vs a professional camera...and that they are nothing but tools to get the job done. And, like how @Brian202020 stated "I guess it proves that everyone prefers something different"...I know the next guy could have a totally different POV in this same scenario... but I appreciate your honest feedback.

Looking forward to whatever you can tease us with in terms of snapshots or itty-bitty-witty sample clips. :-)

Ok, I was just contemplating whether to pick up a second GH2. You really sound convincing... :)

Oh, and should probably add that I'm totally happy with the F3 footage -- it's just for the money, I'm not sure it gives you anything more over a gh2 (I don't want to slight my incredible DoP!)